Beardo: The Weirdest Product of the Year?

Part of my job as assistant to Reader’s Digest editor-in-chief Liz Vaccariello is to search the internet for interesting content. This morning started just like any other: There was a great story about a young boy who steered his dad’s car to safety after a seizure, an interesting item on midlife eating disorders, and one on pole dancing for kids (perhaps a recommendation for another day). But then my eye caught one of the weirdest pictures I’ve ever seen. Period.

I leaned in for a closer look: Yes, I saw a man wearing a bearded hat.

“Beardo” was the name of this concoction. I immediately surfed the internet to see if this was a joke. No joke. This product was actually invented by Jeff Phillips, a Canadian snowboarder. There’s a YouTube commercial (below) and an official Beardo website, where the product sells for $39.99. Anyone want to finish their holiday shopping early this year?